The star joked about abandoning the stage to save himself further embarrassment, but cheering from fans convinced him to persevere with his performance - and at the end of his last song in the set, Angels, the singer pulled his trousers down to his ankles, sparking rapturous applause from the audience.

Williams' wardrobe malfunction is not the first on the Take That tour - his bandmate Jason Orange also ripped his trousers on their debut date in Sunderland last month (May11).